Brian Wilson

MUSIC - RECORDS - music review

September 1, 1995|By Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News

Brian Wilson, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (Karambolage-MCA): There are still oodles of dreamers out there clinging to the hope that the Beach Boys' onetime creative leader, Brian Wilson, has another Pet Sounds in him.

In the nearly 30 years since Wilson's last pop masterpiece, Heroes and Villains, there have been minor flashes of brilliance but certainly not enough to make you want to crow the news from the nearest rooftop.

I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, the soundtrack to Don Was' documentary of the same title, contains new, low-key versions of 10 Wilson tunes, including '' 'Til I Die,'' ''Caroline, No,'' ''This Whole World'' and ''Melt Away.''

It's pleasant, light listening, and by enlisting such Los Angeles session hotshots as drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Hutch Hutchinson and a vocal trio that includes Sweet Pea Atkinson, producer Was has given the songs a glistening, radio-ready sheen. Take away Wilson's relaxed, confident vocals and you have the backing tracks for the next Bonnie Raitt album.

Nothing new, overly imaginative or profound here, but it is irresistible as dinner-party accompaniment.

At the same time, this seems to be an unusually productive period for Wilson, who came up with an album's worth of new songs in collaboration with composer-producer Van Dyke Parks; Orange Crate Art is due in October.